The whole point of the last 1/3 of the game is too stop Luther from deleting the big MMO everyone lives in or some shit, and after you beat him, HE DELETES IT ANYWAY. And then you get some Care-Bear bullshit about believing you exist or whatever. It's the fact that he does the thing you were trying to stop him from doing that renders the whole fight and last 1/3 of the game pretty much meaningless. And Luther sucked balls at being an antagonist; they don't show him until the end, so you don't even know who he really is, and then when you meet him, his reason for destroying the world boils down to him being crazy.

Actually, I've only beaten one game on this list (MGS2), and I didn't think the ending was that bad. Just waaaaayyyyyy too many unanswered questions.

George and Lincoln in super-future armor is a BAD ending??? I say... such standards.

I HATE the fact Heavy Rain's is there for the reason it is. Why the high-heavens and fuck would the killer change?? That'd be bad story-telling by having to throw a bunch of ambiguous clues to make the killer possibly ANYONE and trying to validate it somehow in the story (that much plot in so little time would be insincere and just down-right messy). It's best a game follows its own plot, as its creators intended it should, and not in an ending that HAS TO fit the mold.

Would SO3's ending been better if the universe was destroyed? Then people would go, "*WHIIINE* What did I do all that work for!?!?". Blame that for it's "big reveal", not its ending. And Christ, it wasn't that bad. I'm willing to file most of FF8's plot as worse for it's cheese factor, and Star Ocean 2's for being astronomically impossible.

I HATE the fact Heavy Rain's is there for the reason it is. Why the high-heavens and fuck would the killer change?? That'd be bad story-telling by having to throw a bunch of ambiguous clues to make the killer possibly ANYONE and trying to validate it somehow in the story (that much plot in so little time would be insincere and just down-right messy). It's best a game follows its own plot, as its creators intended it should, and not in an ending that HAS TO fit the mold.

Technically the killer could change if you found different pieces of evidence and whatnot, but the final ending was bullshit, especially with all the red herrings and the whole "LOL THIS SCENE ACTUALLY HAPPENED COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY" thing.

Would SO3's ending been better if the universe was destroyed? Then people would go, "*WHIIINE* What did I do all that work for!?!?". Blame that for it's "big reveal", not its ending. And Christ, it wasn't that bad. I'm willing to file most of FF8's plot as worse for it's cheese factor, and Star Ocean 2's for being astronomically impossible.

I would've preferred the team taking off on a spaceship and saying "Our universe is out there somewhere and we can get back to it somehow" and end there instead of "I think, therefore I am, now I shall wake up on some heretofore unknown planet and go back to my friends."

I think Legacy of Kain was a bit of a cop out as well. Otherwise, why not stick Megaman Legends 2 up there since it not only does the same thing but almost delivers with the followup before ripping it right out of consumer hands leaving only the steaming pile of blame behind?

Also Metroid: Other M belongs here as well since the game starts with a rather cutscene heavy promise to follow up Super Metroid and through the constant ratcheting of terrible direction, awful storytelling, and bad anime levels of misogyny the game ends with a bullshit pixel hunt and nothing accomplished but a waste of 10 hours, $50 bux, and the franchise's credibility.

I HATE the fact Heavy Rain's is there for the reason it is. Why the high-heavens and fuck would the killer change?? That'd be bad story-telling by having to throw a bunch of ambiguous clues to make the killer possibly ANYONE and trying to validate it somehow in the story (that much plot in so little time would be insincere and just down-right messy). It's best a game follows its own plot, as its creators intended it should, and not in an ending that HAS TO fit the mold.

Technically the killer could change if you found different pieces of evidence and whatnot, but the final ending was bullshit, especially with all the red herrings and the whole "LOL THIS SCENE ACTUALLY HAPPENED COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY" thing.

I'm the type who sort of views passively than really examines scenes (so I don't really see many spoilers coming). I didn't notice many red herrings besides the black out thing Mars suffered (which they gave a lame, one-line excuse to compensate for any suspicions). I liked the killer, it wasn't too-too obvious, and it got a nice reveal. Any others?? My mind's a daze, I played the game a while ago.

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No way in hell they would have made the killer Jayden, he had his own problems, and it didn't tie well enough to murdering children, his problem was just addiction, but worked well in that he had his own problems to face. Paige wasn't goona be it either; I highly doubt the *one*women* would be it, and even if it was, it wouldn't be convincing, she was a writer...and an obvious sex-object. Mars would have been too easy to guess, IMO, so the writer's didn't want to take that route. I think he worked well from the perspective of "being right in the middle" of the plot, it's HIS kid, HIS loss... so making him the killer would have had him pulling way too many strings. And the only stupid part with Sully was where he was in the store with the whore-lady, he managed to kill the clerk without her hearing/assuming a goddamn thing. But his back-story and cover-up as a detective help hide the tracks.

Megaman Legends 2 does deserve a spot there. Didn't look like ML3 was looking to explain things much either.... nor will it ever if it did.

Metroid became a cop out to me when Nintendo stopped rewarding the player's hard work with Samus' banging body and gorgeous face...by making it standard and handed on a platter. She lost that mystery to her where it was almost "an honour" to see what she looked like. And that fact is was a "SHE" all that time you played as her made her one hell of a candidate for badass. But then it became like showing her was nothing, and worst of all, we got someone who was a bit too...girly. At least to the extent that I envisioned a stronger character (in both senses).

Would SO3's ending been better if the universe was destroyed? Then people would go, "*WHIIINE* What did I do all that work for!?!?". Blame that for it's "big reveal", not its ending. And Christ, it wasn't that bad. I'm willing to file most of FF8's plot as worse for it's cheese factor, and Star Ocean 2's for being astronomically impossible.

that is exactly why I hate the ending. The universe is destroyed, and as Ashton points out, it boils down to everyone BELIEVING they exist. It just made the whole final boss thing pointless. They were trying to stop their galaxy from being destroyed, and it happens anyway.

But you're right; I did whine and go, "What was the point of all that!" ;)

The detective (whose name slips my mind) goes into the backroom of his friend's business to find his friend murder. Later on at the end we are shown that he actually killed his friend to destroy evidence of his murders. This is ridiculous and just serves to mislead the player who should be trying to decipher who the real killer is. Similarly, Ethan Mars' blackouts were part of a supernatural subplot that got cut out, so his origami things and blackouts were never adequately explained. WTF.

Would SO3's ending been better if the universe was destroyed? Then people would go, "*WHIIINE* What did I do all that work for!?!?". Blame that for it's "big reveal", not its ending. And Christ, it wasn't that bad. I'm willing to file most of FF8's plot as worse for it's cheese factor, and Star Ocean 2's for being astronomically impossible.

that is exactly why I hate the ending. The universe is destroyed, and as Ashton points out, it boils down to everyone BELIEVING they exist. It just made the whole final boss thing pointless. They were trying to stop their galaxy from being destroyed, and it happens anyway.

The turn around for that was lame, I admit. But the fact that it technically WAS destroyed was a different approach I admired. I guess it's the whole "why-I-like-Kefka" thing.

The detective (whose name slips my mind) goes into the backroom of his friend's business to find his friend murder. Later on at the end we are shown that he actually killed his friend to destroy evidence of his murders. This is ridiculous and just serves to mislead the player who should be trying to decipher who the real killer is. Similarly, Ethan Mars' blackouts were part of a supernatural subplot that got cut out, so his origami things and blackouts were never adequately explained. WTF.

I reckon his name's Sully. :D

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I cited the clerk-kill as stupid as well. It was sloppy, to say the least, and def could have been written better. The black outs were explained on a minor note with the psychiatrist, but I also said that was lame and hack as well. We're on the same page. I didn't know anything about this "supernatural subplot" though... it's intriguing...but maybe better left out... unless they were going for a Silent Hill alien-styled ending

From the comments I'm gathering here I would like to theorize that Heavy Rain does not in fact have a bad ending; rather a bad narrative. I got curious about the plot after a day on TvTropes a while back and decided to watch a 'true ending' playthrough from start to finish. That was my only exposure to the story; and without having to sit through the trial and error of 'alternate endings' I think the finale to Heavy Rain works. Neither being the best or the worst ending I have seen out of a game. The whole issue with the red herrings is more a fault of the 'rising action' than the 'ending'.

The worse thing about Metal Gear are it's fans, not the games. They are responsable for the creation of MGS4 an arguably awful/great game that wasn't needed to be made in the first place.

Also, following all the mess with Mass Effect 3 I can only say without experiencing the trilogy that the ending looked badly executed more than anything else. But what got my attention more were the fans, they definitely have a more serious problem that goes beyond the game itself IMO.

Additionally Dark Souls never really had but the barest trace of a 'story' to begin with. It was pretty much just all environment. In order for an ending to be on a 'worst' list the story needs to have had some merit all the way up until the conclusion. Otherwise a bad ending coupled to a bad story is just something you should expect. XP